Choose Speaker Output

Pick which side of the stereo field an audio channel plays through.

This small popup chooses where a channel's audio is sent: the Left side, Center (both sides), or the Right side. It is used with push-to-talk and with the live audio console so you can keep different channels on different sides and tell them apart by ear. The popup sizes itself for phones and tablets.

Overview

Control	What it does
Left	Sends the channel's audio to the left side only.
Center	Sends the channel's audio to both sides — the default.
Right	Sends the channel's audio to the right side only.
Back button	Closes the popup without changing anything.

What each option gives you

Option	With a headset	On the device speaker
Left	Left ear only	Quieter and off to one side, or barely different on a single-speaker device
Center	Both ears equally	Normal, full-volume playback
Right	Right ear only	Quieter and off to one side, or barely different on a single-speaker device

Getting Here

1. Open the Push-to-Talk (RTP Audio) screen, or the Live Audio Streaming console.
2. Tap the speaker button — on the console this is the speaker control on a channel's card.
3. The three-option popup appears over the screen.

Pick an Output

1. Tap Left, Center, or Right.
2. The popup closes immediately and the speaker button updates to show your choice.
3. The channel's audio moves to the side you selected.

What you do	What happens
Tap one of the three options	The popup closes and the channel moves to that side.
Tap the back button	The popup closes and the channel stays where it was.
Open it again later	The three options are always offered, so you can move a channel as often as you like.

note

The choice applies to the one channel whose speaker button you tapped. Other channels keep their own positions, which is the whole point — each channel is placed separately.

Use It to Separate Channels

When you are monitoring several channels at once, everything arriving in the middle becomes one wall of sound. Spreading channels across the stereo field turns that into something you can follow.

1. Put your most important channel on Left.
2. Put the next one on Right.
3. Leave the rest on Center, or turn their volume down.
4. With a stereo headset you can now tell which channel is talking without looking at the screen.

tip

Pair this with each channel's own volume slider on the live audio console. Position tells you which channel it is; volume tells you how much attention it deserves.

note

The effect is clearest through a stereo headset or earpiece. On a device speaker there is little or no separation between left and right, so Center is usually the better choice when you are not wearing anything.

Layout Notes

The popup resizes itself for the device and orientation. On a tablet, and on a phone held sideways, it takes about half the screen width; on a phone held upright it takes nearly the full width. Rotating the device while it is open resizes it in place.

How This Connects

• What this actually sets. The choice is the channel's stereo position in the app's audio mix. It does not change your device's volume, does not change which physical output the audio uses, and does not affect phone calls.
• Where it is remembered. On the live audio console the position is saved against that channel, so a channel you placed on Left comes back on Left. On the push-to-talk screen the speaker button shows your choice for the current session.
• Shared with other screens. The same popup is opened by the speaker button on each card in Live Audio Streaming and by the speaker button on Push-to-Talk (RTP Audio), so the three options behave identically in both places.
• How it relates to routing. Which device the sound comes out of — earpiece, loudspeaker, headset, or car system — is handled by the app and the device, not here. The live audio console pushes built-in output to the loudspeaker rather than the earpiece when the route changes, so a channel does not go quiet unexpectedly.
• Radio channels and incidents. When you are covering an incident on one channel and monitoring general traffic on another, putting the incident channel on one side and everything else on the other is the fastest way to keep the incident's Comms traffic distinct without muting anything.
• Offline behavior. The popup is entirely local and works with no connection. Whether there is any audio to place, of course, depends on the channel being connected.

Troubleshooting

If this happens	What to do
Left and Right sound the same	You are listening on a device speaker. Use a stereo headset, or leave the channel on Center.
A channel has gone silent	It is on a side you are not listening to — check the speaker button and set it to Center.
The choice did not apply	You closed the popup with the back button, which changes nothing. Reopen it and tap an option.
Every channel sounds like one blur	Give the busiest channels different sides, and lower the volume on the rest.
The position reset itself	Positions are saved per channel on the live audio console; on the push-to-talk screen the choice lasts for the session.
Audio is in the wrong ear after plugging in a headset	Reopen the popup and confirm the position, then check the headset is seated properly.

Related Pages

• Push-to-Talk (RTP Audio)
• Live Audio Streaming
• Select an Audio Channel

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